Truss rod slot depth,

Measure Distance Between Top of 12th Fret and Bottom of String Place a ruler on top of slots cgna 12th fret and measure the distance between the top of the fret and the bottom of the outer E strings.

Truss rod slot depth height at the nut can also be affected by the condition of the frets, string gauge and pick attack. This is called a truss rodA truss rod is a metal rod inside the neck of the guitar that provides backwards tension to counteract the forwards tension created by the strings.

Reinstall it and string the guitar up. It can be a very tiny amount of distance, especially for the high E string.

The term action describes the height of the strings above the guitar frets. The lower humidity and heat will cause the wood of the instrument to shrink slightly, and will result in a noticeably lower string height.

Adjusting Action For Playability & Tone

In other words, because most manufacturers do not ship their guitars with perfect nut slot depth, it may sometimes be difficult to finger open chords on mass-produced guitars. High action on an acoustic guitar not only affects the intonationit can make the instrument difficult, if not painful, to play.

Proper Nut Specs Outer string positioning to prevent fret edge roll off Equal string to string spacing Bottom slot angle provides sustain and clarity Slots width keeps strings from binding Depth to provide lowest action and best intonation. If you hold the guitar from the body, without touching the neck, and sight down the neck with one eye, you will see if it is straight or not.

Excessive Backbow

Guitars fresh from the factory rarely get this right. Most will find that during the summer or times of high humidity the top may swell and lift the strings higher off of the fingerboard making it more difficult to play. Excessive wear in the nut slots may cause the strings to buzz when played open since they are now too close to the frets.

You should also not tighten the truss rod very tight. But if you play any other fretted note on such a string, there is no buzz.

Tall Frets The exacting work of installing perfect frets is hard to get perfectly right. Optimal guitar set up A useful starting point for most guitar learners.

Excessive Backbow Sometimes if a truss rod has been overtightened, or heavy strings are replaced with lighter strings, the neck will begin to have a slight backbow. Read more about humidity.

You can try a quarter or half turn of the trust rod and then stop, wait and observe. Be sure the finished saddle sits flat on its bottom edge, unlike this one that was sanded into a slope and now leans to the left.

If the neck has some relief, the middle string height will start low in the open position, be a bit higher along the middle frets and then get low again by the XIIth fret. That was back when I was threading plain rod myself.

While some instruments may still play clean if the string is touching the first fret, most will require a gap of a few thousands to avoid buzzing. If you adjust the truss rod too much, you might cause it to break.

Every guitar is different, but most quality guitars can be adjusted to. This problem does not affect beginners very often, because it is a direct result of playing a guitar that has been well-worn.

Setting Up An Instrument

Because guitars are mass-manufactured, and because getting the correct depth for the nut slot is very difficult and exacting work, most guitars do not ship from the factory with perfect nut slot depth.

Grooves in the saddle can affect intonation and cause strings to break Tension and Top Bellying It is particularly common for the action on flat top instruments to raise over time due to the tension placed on the top. If the action is too truss rod slot depth, then the strings will rattle against one or more of the frets as they are played.

This forward bow is called reliefRelief refers to a small amount of allowable forward bow in a guitar neck, which improves playability for some guitars under some circumstances.

Excessive Guitar Neck Relief or Forward Bow

The height of the strings from the neck of the guitar should be as low as possible without having any buzzing. The truss rodA truss rod is a metal rod inside the neck of the guitar that provides backwards tension to counteract the forwards tension created by the strings.

Sometimes an over-zealous action adjustment can result in a string height that is too low.